Fall of Summer, Week 5, Day 8

  Fellan was lit up like midday, the lack of suns no concern for the priests and priestesses working the festival. Revel was casting her greenish glow from behind the clouds, though it was barely a tint over the darkness of night. Lining the streets of Fellan were hundreds upon hundreds of freshly cast magelights—half in yellow and half in red.

  The equal ratio was a part of it all, a homage to the sacrifice both Goddesses made in order for light to be cast across Gargantua. As midnight soon approached, the mages and priests who cast the magelights were preparing for the Grand Switch. As soon as the clock tower showed a new day, all the lights that were yellow would change to red, and all the red would turn yellow.

  At the center of town, the Grand Switch would be most prevalent—what with the wide open space that was used as the heart of the festival. Such a thing was a mirror of what would happen upon sunrise. No longer would Troya rise first. Come the first day of Autumn, Dreya’s yellow light would light up the sky before the crimson hues joined it.

  In the meantime, the children danced in circles around each other as the [Acolytes] and Devout sang the hymns of the Gods. Several children stuck out in the night, as they had been going for much longer than the average child. As their peers grew tired and needed rest, these five danced and laughed and ran around.

  There were a few others who kept up, but they seemed almost wary of the group of five. And, eventually, as evening turned to night, it was the Second Year Mithril students who ruled the roost. When others came and went, they five remained. The others of their Academy danced, rested, and danced again before the close-knit group even paused.

  When they did, it was upon the insistence of a girl who matched their age—but not their Endurance—with bright blonde hair and shining eyes. Usually, this girl, Juniper, would be in the uniform of the Dawn Estate. Today, however, their Head of House had given the entire estate the day off. Only a few unlucky guards remained at the manor. So, Juniper was wearing a deep blue dress her Lady had gifted her for her last Lunar Birthday. It was rimmed with iridescent frills and embroidered with matching swirls.

  “You all need to eat,” she said, pulling lightly on Nora’s arm.

  With an indulgent smile, Juniper’s Lady nodded—and then grabbed June’s hand and twirled her lightly. Already, the young Lady Dawn was taller than June and was sure to grow even more.

  “One more dance, okay?” Nora laughed, her voice hardly labored at all.

  “They say that the Fae bless all those who dance through the night during the Festival of the Sun,” Remour whispered into June’s ear as her twirl came to an end right before the other girl.

  “It’s nonsense,” Beck said, pulling June over to him and helping her find her feet. She tried to ignore the way her heart fluttered as their hands met. “But it’s fun nonsense.”

  Behind them, Uriel and Nora danced around Louis, who was kicking his feet in an unusual jig.

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  “Fine,” June said through her smile. Looking over her shoulder, she caught her Lady’s eye. “One more dance.”

  Beneath their feet, shadows twisted and turned in a kaleidoscope of colors. To most, it would seem as if yet another mage was casting a spell. Or perhaps a priest had used an illusion Skill. But June knew the truth. Because just as Louis’s shadow was a deep crimson, and Beck’s was a near-black blue, her own was a slight mix of orange and iridescence.

  The clock struck midnight, and only then did the children pause, sweat lining their brows and causing their clothes to stick to their skin.

  Above them, the magelights began to shift and swirl, each one becoming a beautiful orange before bursting with sparks and expelling the color they used to be. Red magelights burned off the yellow within them, and yellow sent out the red. As the sparks fell down upon the people, they landed on noses and cheeks, sending tingles across skin and giggles out of mouths.

  It was then that the now-six of them finally took a break and went to the edge of the town center, where stalls of all kinds lined the great circle. Some got treats and others trinkets—June stared at a pair of bracelets set with a brilliant blue stone. But in the end, she couldn’t justify spending the majority of her meager savings on something simply because it matched her Lady’s eyes. Even if it was a glass crystal, it was still out of her price range.

  A horrible feeling sank into her gut as she thought about how out of place she was amongst her Lady and her Lady’s friends. The only one she found truly comfortable was Remour. Beck and Louis, for all that they were not nobles but the children of merchants, still seemed out of her reach. And Uriel Hyperion was much too intimidating to casually chat with.

  In the end, though, June shoved down her ugly feelings and turned away from the table, following the smell of cheap kebabs. When she found her way back to the Mithril kids, Nora smiled and wrapped her in a hug. Her Lady’s braids brushed her cheek, and a weight found its way into her pocket.

  “Thank you for everything, June,” Nora said under her breath before pulling away and tugging her to the table they had set up at.

  Unlike June, who was in her finest dress, Nora was in a loose-fitting top, shorts, and stockings, all in shades of deep aubergine and pitch black. She nearly blended into the shadows—if it wasn’t for magelights shining from above, June worried she would disappear into the night.

  Barely a minute passed before she forced down every bit of her kebab. Throwing out the skewer, June pulled out what Nora slipped into her pocket.

  Three bracelets, made up of a tarnished silver metal braided around a brilliant blue stone. It was the set that June had been eyeing.

  With a wobbly smile, she tucked the bracelet back into her pocket and rejoined the conversation.

  It was something June had never imagined she’d be doing. Chatting with the daughter of the Duchess of Dawn, casually about their latest excursion through the Academy.

  “It was bizarre. How did it survive this long?” Uriel scowled over his drink, a dark brown liquid with foam on top that smelled of fruit.

  “Well,” Nora said, running her dark nails over the table, “it’s rare, but [Winter Ministers] can survive Summer if they stockpile enough essence and have a great deal of luck.”

  “The sprite had like fifteen wings,” Louis laughed. “And it was practically the size of Becks’s head!”

  Beck elbowed Louis, but didn’t rise to the bait. “Even Instructor Druigach was surprised.”

  “I’m just glad we weren’t alone,” Remour said lightly. The others laughed and grinned and glanced at their shadows.

  In that, June could agree. From within her shadow, Tenebris tightened his hold, darkening himself to disappear with the other spirits.

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